We just got word that Bailey’s dad, Leo, is off to Westminster for the big dog show there this weekend. (You can see the owner’s blurb about it here.) I knew Leo was a big name dog, but I had no idea how much so. Take a look here to see more about his #1 ranking amongst Berners in 2009.
From the Westminster Kennel Club site, it looks like the Working group will begin airing live Tuesday night.
Go Leo go!
Our trip has paid off, and we have a bouncing Berner baby girl — Bailey!
We showed up at Trulli Kennels, with three little ones to choose from. They were all cute, and it would’ve been great to scoop ’em all up, but we were there for one.
So why’d we pick Bailey?
She was the biggest. She’s a little chunk — 17 pounds at 8 weeks — and seems like she’s destined for bigness. We were told her pop was 120-130, and her mom was about 105. She’s gonna be big.
She was the fastest. Every time I ran around the yard, she was the first one to catch up to me. It was cool to have all three of them chasing me around, but you can’t compete with speed and girth. 🙂
And then there’s the markings. She’s beautifully marked with cute little freckles on the end of her nose — she’s easy to pick out in a lineup.
She’s wormed her way into our lives, and we’re thrilled about her!
Molly underwent surgery a month or so ago to remove a cancerous growth. She recovered well from it, but we recently noticed that her scar was kinda swollen, which was unexpected. Today, Beck took her to the vet.
As it ends up, the cancer was back. The doc went in, and took a much larger amount of material this time, which of course, meant a much larger incision, and a little more gruesome looking aftermath. The doc also took an x-ray of her chest and found nothing insidious in the images, so that’s the good news. Of course, I’m mortified about the rapid re-growth over the last month, but am trying to put that out of my mind, and just help her mend.
Last time, we didn’t get the pain under control until the day after the surgery, which made the first day miserable. Molly whimpered and cried that whole first day and night. This time, we seem to have it under control, and though she has really glassy eyes, she seems to be bearing up better than after the last surgery.
More to come, I’m sure…
Every few months or so, many of the Bernese Mountain Dog owners in The Lou get together at a park somewhere for a walk or picnic. One of our friends, Harriet, manages to reserve a spot, e-mail everyone, and basically act as our Julie McCoy to coordinate all the nuts of bolts of these gatherings.
Today’s event had a tremendous turnout, with over 30 Berners, and plenty of folks to go along with them. We met new faces, and re-acquainted ourselves with folks we’d not seen in a while. And of course, we played with the dogs. There’s been a lot of puppies born in/around The Lou over the last year, so fuzzballs and lanky legs were everywhere. And we all missed some Berners that, sadly, weren’t with us any longer.
Harriet’s girl, Amber, is now the grande olde dame of the group, creeping up on 11 years old. Even Molly is starting to creep into the eldest echelons — third oldest in attendance today. You’d never know it to see her run and play — she’s still like a pup.
A couple from Illinois has been talking with us about draft, and brought a draft harness for Molly to try on. She took to it like she’d been drafting all her life. We attached a lightweight backpack to the harness for her to drag around, and she did quite well with it, only occasionally looking behind her to see what the noise was. It was so cool to see her doing what the breed was bred to do. I don’t know that Molly’s got the obedience skills to get any kind of title on her, but I woulda bet against her getting a rally title, and yet I can see her Rally Novice title hanging on the wall across the den.
It was a great day, full of sun and fun, fur and spit — I can’t wait ’til next time!